Archive - Oct 2, 2007 | Inman News

Date

NAR requests name change for RealtorGenius blog

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Benn Rosales, a Realtor in Central Texas, has been weighing options for the RealtorGenius.com blog site he launched in May since the National Association of Realtors notified him the Web site name is an improper use of the trademarked "Realtor" term.

"NAR has contacted us and asked us to formally end the use of this domain and I would assume any variation of the word '***ltor' even though I am a member," Rosales stated in a Tuesday post.

"I will comply full more...

Democrats' foreclosure plan: more leeway for Fannie, Freddie

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Democrats rolled out a plan Wednesday to address rising foreclosures that would temporarily increase caps on the loan portfolios of mortgage repurchasers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and provide more money for housing counselors.

Comparing the impact of the housing downturn and upheaval in mortgage markets to Hurricane Katrina, top Democrats including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged President Bush to appoint a special advisor to coordinate the government's response. more...

AOL Real Estate gets a facelift

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

AOL has overhauled its real estate section and re-launched a new site in beta at http://realestate.aol.com/.

The new site aims to place property search front and center, while offering consumers a broad view of the market, company officials said.

AOL Real Estate is one of the top-visited real estate sites, with an average 3.5 million unique visitors each month over the last six months, according to comScore Media Metrix data. more...

Hines REIT buys Minnesota portfolio

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Houston-based Hines REIT this week acquired an office/flex portfolio comprised of nine buildings in the Minneapolis metro area for an undisclosed price.

A joint venture of First Industrial REIT and CalSTERs sold the properties, which total 766,240 square feet and are in located in infill locations in Eden Prairie, Bloomington, Hopkins, St. Paul, and Golden Valley.

The acquisition was comprised of the following:

University Crossing in St. Paul. The single-story medical office/flex building contains 83,470 square feet and was completed in 1990. more...

Oklahoma City apartment deal surpasses $16M

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Water Garden Apartments, an 800-unit apartment community in Oklahoma City, Okla., recently sold to a California-based limited liability company for $16.8 million.

Los Angeles-based Accord/VAU Interests LLC purchased the asset from Albion Oklahoma LLC. The property is located 6446 N. Peniel Ave. more...

STAG Capital gains warehouse in sale-leaseback

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

STAG Capital Partners this week announced the purchase of a 117,564-square-foot warehouse/office facility in Milwaukee, Wis., as part of a sale-leaseback transaction with refrigerator maker U-Line Corp.

The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

The subject property is situated on 3.85 acres at 8900 North 55th St. and was fully leased to U-Line Corp., which produces stand-alone and under-counter refrigerators and freezer appliances for the high-end residential marketplace.

White House: Foreclosure tax break should be temporary

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

The Bush administration is seeking to narrow the scope of a bill that would give homeowners facing foreclosure a tax break when lenders forgive part of their debt.

The administration supports a provision of the bill that would amend a section of the tax code that allows the IRS to tax as income any debt that's forgiven in a foreclosure sale, or when mortgage lenders agree to modify loan terms or allow short sales. more...

Refis, home purchases fall in latest survey

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Applications for home purchase and refinance loans declined last week even as long-term interest rates dropped, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The market composite index, a measure of total mortgage application volume, last week sank 2.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the third week in September, according to MBA. more...

Reply announces $4.5 million financing round

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Reply.com, a company that offers real estate and automotive online marketing services and consumer-facing tools, on Tuesday announced that it has secured $4.5 million in financing from ATEL Ventures Inc.

Reply offers free home valuations for consumers, as well as property-search and neighborhood research tools. more...

Announcements of mortgage layoffs nearing 70,000

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Mortgage and subprime lenders have announced nearly 70,000 layoffs in the first three quarters of 2007, according to outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., which tracks company announcements of job cuts.

That's a more than five-fold increase from the 12,874 announced job losses in mortgage lending tallied by Challenger in all of 2006. more...

Overnight real estate rates pause

By Inman News, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Long-term mortgage interest rates stood still Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.52 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average stayed at 6.09 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate held at 5.71 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 5.71 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield sank to 4.77 percent.

Rates and bonds are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. more...

Bob Bruss: smart, ethical and eager to help consumers

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Last week's Latin America Real Estate Conference in Florida was jammed with interesting news on the number of baby boomers investigating a purchase south of the border, the impact of the subprime markets on international funds, and how the U.S. construction slowdown has affected the "remittances" foreign workers send back home.

In the middle of pursuing at least three news stories, I received word that longtime real estate columnist and colleague Bob Bruss had passed away at age 67. The news stunned and saddened me and temporarily moved everything else to the back burner. more...

Seismic retrofit saves home from disaster

By Bill and Kevin Burnett, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Q: After the 2005 disaster in New Orleans we decided we should go ahead with the seismic retrofit of our home in El Cerrito, Calif. Can you recommend any research that I should do before doing the project? I am confused as to what methods are recommended for homes in my area and whether what's recommended to me by experts who do this work is right for my home.

A: The Gulf Coast has hurricanes; the Midwest has tornados; and the San Francisco Bay Area has the ever-present threat of an earthquake. more...

Seniors looking to remodel share unique concerns

By Tom Kelly, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

If you decide that you are going to spend your remaining years in your primary residence or your second home -- and an overwhelming number of seniors would prefer to stay put -- what will you do to make those homes more comfortable?

That topic will be the prime focus of National Aging in Place Week (Oct. 1-7) as home modification experts, geriatric care managers, financial planners, home care workers and other experts in senior living gather to provide residents the information they need to find products and services to continue to live in the home of their choice. more...

Farmers Insurance learns hard lesson in homeowner lawsuit

By Robert Bruss, Tuesday, October 2, 2007.

Editor's note: Robert Bruss passed away on Sept. 26, 2007. This was one of the last real estate columns he wrote. Inman News is publishing Bob's last work as a final salute to the nation's most well-known real estate writer.

Betty Jo Walker, age 76, and Linda Williams are lifelong friends who own a unit at the Village Green Condominiums. Walker's income is $800 per month from Social Security. Williams' income is $2,000 monthly from an office job. more...